almotamar.net -
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday valued highly the Japanese donation of US$5.3 million to support on-site school feeding up to the end of the current school year.

The donation was confirmed at a signing ceremony in Rome on 7 November.

"This is a new activity for WFP Yemen, which we have been able to launch entirely as a result of Japan's support," said WFP Yemen Deputy Country Director and Officer-in-Charge Rukia Yacoub. "With this latest donation, we can continue to provide snacks to children attending school right through the year."

"I believe this food aid will contribute directly to the alleviation of the impacts of food shortages as well as the improvement of people's nutritional status in this country," said Japanese ambassador to Yemen Katsuyoshi Hayashi.

Under this operation, WFP will provide a daily snack, consisting of a nutritious date bar, to some 295,000 primary and secondary schoolchildren regularly attending school, to encourage attendance and help them to concentrate during lessons.

Japan is the third largest donor to WFP Yemen – in 2013, Japan contributed more than US$30 million. "We are extremely grateful for this generous and consistent support, especially at this time when so many emergencies around the world are competing for limited funding,"
Yacoub said.

School feeding in Yemen is being carried out under WFP's current two-year Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation, which aims to provide assistance to some 6 million Yemenis, through activities such as relief food assistance, food and cash for work, school feeding, and nutritional support for women and young children.

The operation is supporting a gradual shift from relief assistance to resilience-building and livelihood support, with a view to lifting the most vulnerable Yemeni populations out of food insecurity and poverty and providing them with the means to create a sustainable future.

A Saudi aggression fighter jet targeted a citizen's car driving in Fara area of Kutaf district in Saada province overnight, killing the driver and injuring his friend, a security official said on Monday.

Scores of Saudi enemy soldiers were killed and injured on Sunday when the army and popular forces repelled a Saudi military attempt to sneak into Shurfah site in the border province of Najran, a military official said.

Saudi aggression warplanes have launched more than 49 airstrikes over the past hours on several residential areas across Yemen, a security official said on Sunday.
The airstrikes targeted the areas of Malahiz and Husama in Dhahir district, and areas Thuban, Masahif and Sdad in Bakim district of northern Saada province.